Influenced by viral video, trio stopped distribution of grocery

Influenced by viral videos showing a section of people spitting on food, vegetable and currency notes to spread coronavirus, some men had stopped members of an NGO from distributing grocery to labourers in a Dasarahalli slum.

DCP (North-East) Bheemashankar S Guled said Jagadish, Karthik and Raghu had been arrested for assaulting two youths near the government school in Dasarahalli on Monday evening as they distributed foodgrains to the labourers. The three Dasarahalli residents work as drivers with a private firm.

Guled said the trio had been booked under IPC Sections 506 (criminal intimidation), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), 147 (punishment for rioting), 143 (unlawful assembly), 144 (joining unlawful assembly armed with a deadly weapon), 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of the offence committed in prosecution of common object), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons).

Efforts are also on to arrest the other three involved in the incident.

Syed Tabrez (23), resident of Gangamma Temple Road injured in the attack, said in his complaint that they were distributing groceries tolabourers in various parts of the city.

At 6.30 pm on Monday, Tabrez, his mother and three friends — Uday, Kiran and Santhosh — were going to distribute groceries to workers near the government school in Dasarahalli in Hebbal when six people riding on two motorbikes asked them not to distribute the items.

They beat up Tabrez and Kiran with a cricket bat when the former questioned them over their behavior. They abused and asked them to leave the place. Other NGO members rushed a bleeding Tabrez to hospital to treat his head injury.

Following his treatment, Tabrez filed a complaint with the Amruthahalli police. He later said the attackers had stopped them from distributing groceries even on Sunday.

When he went to the police on Sunday, they said the NGO members were not doing anything wrong and could continue to distribute groceries.

During interrogation, the accused told the police that the viral videos showing people spitting on food, currency notes and vegetables had prompted them to ask the NGO members not to distribute groceries.